1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to automated medical diagnosis systems, and more particularly to such systems which compare patient diagnostic data with predetermined ranges of specific indicators to provide a specific disease diagnosis and suggested or contraindicated treatment strategies.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Medical research in the second half of the 20th century has produced, and continues to produce, an ever increasing body of knowledge. The complexity and interrelationships of various diseases and the indicators that may be detected in various diagnostic tests for the diseases are more than sufficient to tax the capacity of most medical practitioners. To aid medical practitioners in disease diagnosis, computerized expert systems have been, and are being developed to collate medical diagnostic data with various diseases to guide physicians in prescribing treatments for their patients. Such prior art medical diagnostic systems do not adequately provide an analytical framework for analyzing the individual patient's diagnostic results to collate such results into a disease indicator pattern. Furthermore, such systems do not address therapeutic and/or contraindicated treatment strategies.